Self-compassion around the world: measurement invariance of the short form of the Self-Compassion Scale (scs-sf) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups

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2025
Authors
Swami, Viren
Tran, Ulrich S.
Voracek, Martin
Aavik, Toivo
Ranjbar, Hamed Abdollahpour
Adebayo, Sulaiman Olanrewaju
Afhami, Reza
Ahmed, Oli
Aimé, Annie
Akel, Marwan
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Springer
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10.1007/s12671-025-02560-5
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Abstract
Objectives: The 12-item Self-Compassion Scale–Short Form (SCS–SF) is a widely used instrument for the assessment of self-compassion. To date, there have been few examinations of this instrument’s psychometric properties, particularly across nations and languages. Therefore, we used data from the Body Image in Nature Survey (BINS) to assess measurement invariance of the SCS–SF across nations, languages, gender identities, and age groups. Methods: Participants (N = 56,968) from 65 nations completed the SCS–SF in 40 languages. Using these data, we tested various hypothesised models of the SCS–SF in the total sample and, using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, tested for invariance of the optimal model across national groups, languages, gender identities, and age groups. Results: In the total dataset, we found that an 11-item, 2-factor model (i.e., SCS-11) provided best fit to the data, with the two factors tapping distinct constructs of compassionate and uncompassionate self-responding. The SCS-11 was found to be partially scalar invariant across national groups and languages, and fully scalar invariant across gender identities and age groups. There was wide variation in latent means for the two factors, particularly across national groups and languages. Further analyses showed negligible associations between the two factors and sociodemographic variables, including marital status, financial security, and urbanicity. Conclusions: Our results suggest that it may be possible to derive a stable 2-factor model of the SCS–SF for use in cross-cultural research, but also highlight the likelihood of cross-national and cross-linguistic variations in the way that self-compassion is understood.
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Cross-cultural , Measurement invariance , Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA) , Self-compassion scale , Short form
Citation
Swami, V., Tran, U. S., Voracek, M., Aavik, T., Ranjbar, H. A., Adebayo, S. O., Afhami, R., Ahmed, O., Aimé, A., Akel, M. and Al Halbusi, H. (2025) 'Self-compassion around the world: measurement invariance of the short form of the Self-Compassion Scale (scs-sf) across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups', Mindfulness, pp.1-28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-025-02560-5
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https://hdl.handle.net/10468/17441
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Applied Psychology - Journal Articles
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© 2025, the Author(s). Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.